Data visualization is a process for graphically representing data in a visualization, for example, a chart, an infographic, a map, a gauge, etc. When visualizing data series in a map type visualization, a background provides context for viewing the graphical representations of the data series. However, the data series must include properly formatted positional data to be displayed in the correct locations relative to features depicted on the background. Prior data visualization systems and methods forced users to conform data to pre-existing backgrounds to provide proper correlation between the data series and the background. Translating data from one mapping visualization to another and using custom backgrounds in these systems was difficult and resource intensive.